Painter's mussel

The painter's mussel ( Unio pictorum ) is a species of bivalve mollusc of the family of river mussels.

Features

The shell reaches a length of 72-90 mm ​​, a height of 23-31 mm and a thickness of 23 to 31 millimeters. She is very elongated and more than twice as long as high. The upper and the lower edge is almost parallel to each other. The lower edge is usually bent slightly inward. The rear end of the shell is narrowed in a wedge shape. The vertebrae protrude excessively. The wall of the shell is thick and yellowish -green to brownish.

Occurrence

Habitat of the painter's mussel are slow flowing and standing waters. It occurs in Europe, except the extreme south and north.

Way of life

The painter's mussel is usually dioecious. In the gill chamber of female animals develop special subjects approximately 300,000 to 400,000 eggs. Approximately four to six weeks to process the breeding season, which is in the summer. The larvae are about 0.25 millimeters in size. They are expelled with the breath water from the shells and sink to the river bottom. Try a fish to eat them, they attach themselves by means of their shell valves equipped with hook in his gills fixed. They are overgrown by the gill lamellae. Here they live over a period of three to eleven weeks as a parasite, then they dissolve as finished small shells again. Sexual maturity is reached by three to four years. As a maximum age reached painter shells seven to ten years. Painters mussels are hosts for the bitterling, which lays its eggs in them.

Documents

• Herbert W. Ludwig: Animals and plants of our waters. BLV, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-405-16487-7.

Weblink

• Unio pictorum in the Red List of Threatened Species IUCN 2013.1. Posted by: . Van Damme, D., 2011, Retrieved on November 22, 2013

• Mussels